In the days following mass protests across the United States under the slogan “No to Kings”—a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump’s authoritarian impulses—the election of Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim Democratic Socialist, as Mayor of New York, appeared as both a symbolic and political earthquake. His victory gave fresh energy to a growing movement that challenges the foundations of representative democracy in America, calling instead for a more participatory form of governance—a democracy of continuous citizen engagement rather than one confined to the ballot box.
This was no passing event. Mamdani’s rise can be read as an expression of the broader crisis of representative democracy now gripping the West. Once celebrated as the pinnacle of political modernity, it is increasingly seen as hollow, dominated by elites who have reduced democracy to ritual elections that grant legitimacy without genuine participation. Citizens from across the Western world, from the streets of Paris to New York, are insisting that democracy must be corrected from within, re-infused with moral purpose, and reclaimed by the people it claims to serve.
A System in Crisis
For nearly three decades, political theorists have been dissecting this crisis of representation—tracing its roots to the systems that emerged in the late 18th century and evolved through two centuries of liberal expansion. What was once a mechanism of empowerment has, over time, turned into a mechanism of exclusion.
In his book Democracy of the Twenty-First Century, political scholar Dr. Wahid Abdel-Meguid attributes this stagnation to the entrenchment of political and economic elites who monopolised power, wealth, and media influence, effectively emptying democracy of its essence. What remains, he argues, is a hollow shell—a set of electoral procedures that legitimise authority but no longer embody the core principle of democracy as “the rule of the people by the people.”
This echoes the elite theory proposed by Italian sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, who argued that even within democratic societies, power tends to crystallise in the hands of a small group of individuals possessing superior social, intellectual, or economic capital. Later, American scholar Irving Janis expanded this critique through his work Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes, demonstrating how decision-making in Washington was often confined to tight-knit circles of insiders—those anointed by appointment or election—while the broader public remained spectators in a theatre of managed participation.
Trump and the Myth of Representation
Under Trump, this elitist structure reached a caricatured form. His style of governance—marked by unilateralism, nepotism, and disdain for institutional checks—resembled the rule of a personal autocrat rather than that of a democratically accountable leader. Trump himself often admired strongmen around the world, lamenting that the U.S. system prevented him from ruling as they did.
It was this psychological inclination toward authoritarianism that alarmed millions of Americans. In response, over seven million protesters took to the streets in more than 2,600 demonstrations across the nation’s cities—from New York and Boston to Chicago and Atlanta—under banners reading “No to Kings.” They decried corruption, corporate capture, and the erosion of checks and balances, warning that democracy was being reduced to a spectator sport, briefly revived every few years during election cycles only to be forgotten once ballots were cast.
Against this backdrop, the election of Zohran Mamdani—an immigrant, a leftist, and a Muslim—emerged as a defiant act of civic correction. His victory represented a rejection of Trump’s politics of exclusion and a yearning for a system that listens, consults, and involves.
Beyond the Ballot: Participatory Democracy
Democracy, in its authentic form, is not merely an election box; it is a living framework of values—liberty, equality, pluralism, transparency, rule of law, and civic virtue. It thrives when citizens remain active custodians of their own governance. When these values decay into mere procedures, democracy becomes fragile and manipulable.
Advocates of participatory democracy propose a model that reclaims these lost ideals. Their vision includes mechanisms such as:
- Periodic referendums on major executive decisions.
- The right of citizens to withdraw confidence from elected officials proven corrupt or negligent.
- Permanent public forums for political dialogue and accountability.
- Robust civil society presence and institutional transparency as the norm, not the exception.
These mechanisms aim not to destroy representative democracy but to revive it—to bridge the widening gap between those who rule and those who are ruled.
Mamdani as a Symbol of Democratic Renewal
When New Yorkers voted Mamdani into office, they were not merely electing a mayor. They were endorsing a counter-narrative—that leadership must once again be rooted in conscience, not capital; in representation, not manipulation.
His election signals that the public is no longer content to be treated as passive recipients of policy. They want to co-govern, to participate, and to ensure that their leaders remain accountable. This is the antidote to the decay of Western democracy—a call for continuous participation rather than ceremonial consent.
Trump’s reaction to these movements was telling. He dismissed protesters as “not representative of our people,” branding them as agents of leftist conspiracy financed by billionaire George Soros. His attempts to trivialise the demonstrations reveal the very disconnect that participatory democracy seeks to heal—a leadership that governs for itself rather than with its people.
The Global Lesson
The crisis Mamdani’s rise exposes is not confined to America. The disillusionment with representative democracy resonates across Western capitals, where citizens increasingly feel alienated from political elites. The lesson is clear: democracy’s salvation lies not in abandoning representation, but in purifying it—restoring moral responsibility and participatory oversight.
In this sense, Mamdani’s victory becomes more than a local story; it is a metaphor for the reawakening of civic agency in an era when democracy risks being co-opted by wealth, media, and populist manipulation. His election represents a peaceful revolt within the democratic system—a reassertion that legitimacy flows from the people, not from the powerful.
Democracy must therefore return to its original covenant: that representatives are delegates, not masters. Mamdani’s ascent reminds the world that even in a system burdened by elitism, the voice of the people—when united—can still redraw the contours of power.
